GREAT FIRE

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 590, 7 December 1869, Page 2

GREAT FIRE

IN WESTPORT. NINETEEN PRINCIPAL PLACES OF BUSINESS TOTALLY DESTROYED. ESTIMATED LOSS OYER £IO,OOO. The most serious and disastrous elemental visitation as yet recorded in the history of Westport occurred in Gladstone street, on Saturday night. At ten o'clock, when the town was in its usual condition of quietude, though perhaps a trifle brisker than on ordinary Saturday evenings, from the presence in the streets of a few strangers from the Terraces, and of a number of the townspeople taking an evening saunter before retiring to their homes, the often dreaded alarm of " Fire " was heard in the main street, and shortly afterwards the cry was echoed over all parts of the town. A rush from the four points of the compass was made towards the place where the alarm originated, and it was discovered that a fire had broken out in the shop of Mr Auslow, draper and general storekeeper, whose premises occupied a central position in the main block of buildings on the west or seaward side of Gladstone street. From the general account given of the origin of the occurrence it appears that Mr Auslow, previous to closing his premises for the night, was in the act of extinguishing one of the kerosene lamps by turning down the wick. As he did so, the burning wick came in contact with the body of kerosene in the lamp, causing the latter almost immediately to explode. For a few minutes Mr Auslow strove hard to extinguish the extending flames, but several articles of drapery and two cases of kerosene which happened to be standing close to where the lamp burst, having caught, it soon exceeded the powers of Mr Anslow, and the few neighbors who had then congregated, to diminish or extinguish the lire. Barely time was left to remove half a dozen articles when the flames, with one grasp, seemed to seize the whole of the roof, and envelope the premises in a cloud of smoke. The alarm was then more loudly reverberated from one street to another, and crowds of people rushed to the scene, but scarcely three minutes had elapsed from the time Mr Anslow's roof had caught until Cato's Golden Age Hotel, on the left, and Trimble's Theatre Royal, on the right, were enwrapped in smoke and flame. Only a few minutes passed when any attempt to allay the fierce flames, which then spread along " like a thing of iife," was seen to be hopeless, and the fire, so far as concerned the one block of buildings, was deemed beyond human subjection. At this stage the attention of the crowd was directed to the drapery establishment of Messrs Fleming and Murray, and during the ten minutes which passed before the spreading of the flames to that distance, the people set to work with a will to remove the large stock of drapery on these premises. Silks, moirc-antiques, velvets, laces, and the most valuable drapery lots wore seized upon in the most primitive manner, and thrust into the middle of the street. The flames were fast spreading and soon made their appearance inside their walls also, and desperate efforts were then deemed necessary to save the balance of the stock. The windows were smashed to afford more rapid modes of egress, and every available assistance was given by the crowd ; but the enemy became too powerful, and a considerable quantity of the stock had of necessity to be left to its fate. The fire then' burnt most fiercely, and the heat was so intense as to be almost unendurable on the opposite side of the street. Without the remotest possibility of checking it, a a few minutes more placed the offices of Mr Pitt, solicitor, and Smyrk's Tramway Hotel in a similar position of danger and certain destruction. The attention of the crowd having been concentrated iu the attempt to save the stock of Messrs Fleming and Murray, little heed had been given to the two latter places until the fire had got a firm hold of them, and a very narrow escape was made by Mr Foote, clerk to Mr Pitt, in saving papers from the upper office, and nearly all the articles in the Tramway were lost. An empty store, adjoining Smyrk's Hotel, was the next place to fall a victim, and then followed the residence of Dr Eockstrow, which had been recently purchased by him from Mr George Somner, architect. With a considerable portion of his furniture and chemicals, it was soon consumed. The vigilance of the people certainly had the effect of staying any further progress of the fire in that direction, as the most strenuous efforts were made to subdue it, and the saving of the school-house and other buildings in Molesworth street is attributable solely to the energy which was here displayed. While the fire had thus extended over the entire left hand portion of the block, it was eridently proceeding with a determination to encircle the right-hand portion in like manner. Trimble's Theatre Royal had been gutted by the flames almost " in a twinkling," leaving the inmates scarcely time to save a single article. With the exception of a few private effects taken out, the whole building, furniture, and stock were a mass of" unapproachable ruins in a very short time. Onward the fire extended towards Horn's, the tobacconist, who managed, in a manner, to get a large portion of his goods away from the premises to

the middle of the street, but from the mode in which much of the goods was throtvu about, uot to mention the loss of the two shops, which were his own property, he must have been one of the heaviest losers. The Sportsman's Arms, belonging to Mrs Austin, who had recently gone to some expense in improvements, and the Imperial Hotel, the property of Mr Tasker, tenanted andfurnished by Mr Derungs, very shortly followed. The new shop of Messrs .Roberts and Simpson, bootmakers, of which mention was made last week as having then been completed and added to the few neat buildings in town, was totally destroyed almost before the paint arid plaster on the walls had properly dried. The bulk of the goods, however, was saved, but Mr Simpson is greatly to be sympathised with as having lost from his hard earnings the neatest establishment of its kind in the town. It cannot be replaced under at least £3OO or £IOO, and when consumed its ornamentation had not been altogether completed. Mr White, chemist, next door, lias an equally pitiable tale to relate. Everyone knows what it js to attempt to save a druggist's stock on ten minutes' notice. The chemicals got so mixed that they ignited before the fire reached the premises, and, except a piano, very little indeed was saved belonging to Mr White. From the Prince of Wales Hotel, next door, there was nothing saved, from the circumstance of the proprietress, Mrs P»raithwaite, being from home, and the place being closed up. There was some £3O worth of stock on the premises, besides furniture. Mr Shulhoff, the tobacconist, lost no time in cleai'in g his premises of his stock of tobaccos, cigars, pipes, Ac, but his loss, even from the rough-and-tumble way in which goods had to be taken out or thrown out, must have amounted to many pounds, independent of the loss of premises and business. The most rapid and largest clearance along the whole block was that of Mr Southern, draper, who managed to get nut nil his goods before the flames reached the building. A large portion of the goods -were safely placed in the Casino de Venice, but when the alarm was given that Mr White's shop had caught, the balance was thrust out "higgledy piggledy" anywhere and everywhere, and only a few seconds before the building became one mass of flames. Mr Southern's books were placed safely in the Bank of New Zealand, the cash box was taken to the Union Bank, the drapery divided between the Casino and tho public street as temporary places of safety, and the blankets (IGO pairs) distributed among the neighboring dwellings to prevent any oxtension of the fire. The ruinous volume of flame still spread, and Messrs Preeth and Greig's premises, in Freeman sti'eot, were the next to be seized, and though early attention had been given to the saving of the goods, much had to be left to perish. Tho books, papers, and documents were left in a large safe on the premises, and though the safe was red-hot during'the fire, on opening it next morning they were found in a legible condition. The leather covers of the books were doubled up and blistered, but the paper was only darkened in color. The last on the list of the unfortunate sufferers was Mr George Palla, whose large store was filled with immovable goods, such as hogsheads, quartcrcasks, and bottled beer. Up to the last moment the most strenuous attempts were made to clear the premises of goods, but the larger portion had to be left to await its fate. Over £2OO worth of bottled ale and porter was on the premises, in addition to hogsheads of beer, spirits, and provisions, and the work of removing was carried on until the whole building was in a blaze. The store behind completed the list of nineteen of the principal places of business in town, all completely destroyed, with stocks more or less damaged or lost. It is somewhat difficult to approach even a rough estimate of the total loss, but, from the limited means of obtaining an approximation at so early a date after the fire, it cannot be stated at less than £IO,OOO to £12,000.

At several stages of the progress of the fire the disaster seemed likely to extend much beyond the block which has been destroyed, and indeed beyond the street in which the fire originated. The saving of the opposite side of Gladstone street, and of Kenncdv street, which must inevitably have followed, was mainly owing to the successful exertions made in saving the Post Office Hotel. How that building escaped is truly marvellous. The appearance of the building now after the fire is an index of what the heat must have been. It is scorched from top to 'bottom, blackened and blistered, and scarcely a whole pane of glass is left in the windows. Some of those who strove so hard to" save this building deserve the greatest credit. During one period no one thought there wa°s the slightest probability of its escaping, as one of the saturated blankets over the windows went off in a blaze. The heat was so intense' on the roof that hands, clothes, and boots were burnt, yet one or two persevering fellows remained manfully to their posts on the outer parapet on the roof, and kept pouring down the buckets of water as fast as they could be handed up. After the fire had abated slightly in the north end of the street, nearly all hands mustered at the Albion Hotel, where the second danger became imminent. It then became more evident that in order to protect the lower por-

tion of the street some better organisation should be attemued; a strong line of men was formed from the river, and buckets were passed from one to another with regular and praiseworthy rapidity ; and to this the saving of the Albion Hotel and the whole block adjoining was attributable. The saving of this corner was also assisted by a sudden change in the wind, which had, during tho first hour of the fire, been blowing from the north-west, but which seemed to suddenly chop round to the south, at the particular moment when Mr Southern's roof was giving forth the greatest strength of flame. Half an hour after, when the fire had partly abated, there came a gust of wind from the west which carried the sparks over the tops of the building opposite, but before that time all danger seemed to be past. To specially notice the creditable activity of any mau or body of meu during the fire would be a difficult selection to make, as all worked well. Many whoso shirt sleeves had perhaps not seen day-light for months previously, if ever, might be seen divested of their upper garments and, with bucket in hand, actively at work. The miners who happened to be in town deserve more than a passing word, as to their indefatigable and, in some instances, daring exertions much has now to be enumerated with the list of saved which would otherwise have been lost. The few police Sergeant Keily, Constables Williams' and O'Mara, did their utmost in the saving as well as protecting. Inspector Prauklyn happened to be at the time on a visit to the Brighton station. The officers of the gaol, who turned their keys on the inmates of their establishment, previous to turning their attention to the fire, wrought equally well. The members of the Fire Brigade, not as a fire brigade, but as individual citizens, did each one his part. From the Chief Magistrate to the most humble towmsman, all 'seemed anxious to lend a willing hand, and by their combined exertions there can be no doubt much property was saved, and the extension of the fire on all sides prevented. The drapers gave out their blankets ad libitum. Mr Corr, Mr Patterson, Mr Field, and others supplied innumerable buckets. The hotelkeepers stood " free drinks," and everybody opened their tanks, and did their very utmost to assist their neighbors. It is difficult, as we have said, to arrive at anything like an approximation of the total loss, or indeed of individual losses, but the following, in rough figures, is as near an estimate of the value of the buildings and goods lost and destroyed as we are able to glean so soon after the event : Cowley, Anslow's shop ... ... £2OO Anslow, stock, total loss 1000 Golden Age Hotel, M'Cole owner ... 200 Do. do. Cato's stock and furniture, total loss ... ... 250 Fleming and Murray, properties ... 800 Do. do. stock, partially lost and destroyed... ... ... 1500 Pitt, solicitor, office and furniture, &o. 250 Tramway Hotel, Smyrk, hotel, furniture, and stock ... 500 Theatre Royal, Trimble, hotel, furniture, and stock ... ... ... 400 Horn, tobacconist, two shops and part of stock 1000 Sportsman's Anns, Mrs Austin, hotel, furniture, and stock ... ... 300 Imperial Hotel, Tasker, owner ... 300 Do. Stock, &c, Derungs ... 200 White, chemist, shop and stock ... GOO Prince Alfred Hotel, Tasker 150 Do. do. Stock and furniture, Mrs Braithwaite ... ... 70 ShullolF, tobacconist, part stock ... 150 J. Southern, part stock destroyed ... 500 Smith and M'Dowell, draper's shop ... 800 Do. do. tobacconist's shop 200 Geo. Jarris, Freeth and Falla's stores 550 Freeth and Greig, stores, &c... ... 200 G. Falla, stock ... ... 400 Dr Rockstrow, house, furniture, &c... 300 Roberts and Simpson, new shop and part of slock. ... ... ... 500

XI 1,420 _ The above may be deemed the principal losers. There were many minor losses, such as broken glass, torn down fences, and other properties borrowed and not returned, but the above list comprises the chief losers on the block in which the fire occurred. _ In the space of two hours, the whole nineteen buildings were consumed. No accidentof any serious nature occurred, though there was a large number of bruises and slight scalds. Mr M'Kinley, tailor, fell from the roof of his shop in attempting to secure it from the scorch of the opposite burning premises, but the injury sustained was, fortunately, slight. So far as we have been able to ascertain, there was not a penny of insurance on any of the buildings or stocks. It is the intention of several of those who have been burnt out, to rebuild on their old sites, while others have rented places tempoi'arily. Subscription lists have been started for one or two of the most needy sufferers, and it is in contemplation to give a series of entertainments for their benefit. Two men were brought up yesterday, in the Resident Magistrate's Court, charged with appropriating some blankets, boots, and axe-heads, but their possession of them was more or less satisfactorily explained, and the men were discharged. Our report of the cases, with many other items of local news, we are necessarily compelled to hold over from our present impression.